Sandro Botticelli

Filipepi, Alessandro
Botticelli
Botticelli, Alessandro

Florentine, 1446 - 1510

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Italian painter (1445–1510)

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This vertical portrait shows the head, shoulders, and chest of a young man with smooth, pale skin and shoulder-length, dark blond hair positioned behind a narrow gray, stone ledge. Shown against a black background, the man tilts his head to our left and his eyes cut to our right. His left eyebrow, on our right, is slightly arched over brown eyes. He has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and his hair falls down the sides of his face from beneath a crimson-red, flat-topped cap. He wears a brown garment with white linen peeking through at the shoulder seams. The neck and seam down the front are lined with white, perhaps fur. He holds his right hand to his chest with his middle finger overlapping his ring finger.
Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Youth, c. 1482/1485, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.19

Portrait of a Youth

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1482/1485 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.19

Four drawings of faces and bodies are affixed onto a larger vertical album page, on which architectural decorations have been drawn on to act as frames. Three vertical drawings are spaced along the top half of the ivory-colored album page, and one larger horizontal drawing fills the bottom half. Drawn with brown ink and gray washes, the frames resemble moldings and scrolls around each drawing, with garlands flanking the bottom sketch. The three drawings in the top zone are done with metalpoint on gray or mauve paper and are highlighted with touches of white. The metalpoint technique creates faint silvery-gray lines. In the top left drawing, a nude man stands facing us. In the center, the face of a cleanshaven young man with curling hair beneath a cap looks down and to our left. Below the face, a forearm and hand clutching a rock appears next to another study of a hand. In the drawing to our right, a man wearing a toga-like robe leans on a walking stick, facing our left in profile. The drawing at the bottom is done with gray metalpoint lines and white strokes against golden yellow paper. A person sits and twists up in a spiral to our left. In the center of this drawing are three studies of muscular legs. Then, to our right, a man sits on a throne holding a spear or scepter and globe, facing our right in profile. An inscription in the frame below the bottom drawing reads, “Filippo Lippi Pitt: Fior:”
The "Chief Framer", Giorgio Vasari, Raffaellino del Garbo, Sandro Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Page from the Collection of Niccolò Gaddi (So-Called "Vasari Page"), Sheets probably 1480-1504; mounting & framework c. 1575/1590, album page with ten drawings on recto and verso in various media with decoration in pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, on light buff paper, Woodner Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1991.190.1

Page from the Collection of Niccolò Gaddi (So-Called "Vasari Page")

The "Chief Framer", Giorgio Vasari, Raffaellino del Garbo, Sandro Botticelli, Filippino Lippi · Sheets probably 1480-1504; mounting & framework c. 1575/1590 · album page with ten drawings on recto and verso in various media with decoration in pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, on light buff paper ·  Accession ID  1991.190.1

Sandro Botticelli, The "Chief Framer", Head of a Youth Wearing a Cap; a Right Forearm with the Hand Clutching a Stone; and a Left Hand Holding a Drapery, 1480/1485, metalpoint heightened with white gouache on mauve prepared paper, Woodner Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1991.190.1.a

Head of a Youth Wearing a Cap; a Right Forearm with the Hand Clutching a Stone; and a Left Hand Holding a Drapery

Sandro Botticelli, The "Chief Framer" · 1480/1485 · metalpoint heightened with white gouache on mauve prepared paper ·  Accession ID  1991.190.1.a

A woman kneels, angled to our left, and tips her face down toward a naked baby propped on a pillow against a pile of hay in a shed-like structure in this round painting. The woman and baby have pale skin, blond hair, and their heads are surrounded with gold halos. The woman’s arms cross her chest as she looks down, her eyes nearly closed. She has high cheekbones, a narrow chin, a long, straight nose, and her pale lips are closed. Her long hair tucks under the neck of her aquamarine-blue cloak, which covers her coral-red dress. The dress and robe pool around her legs and under the baby, near her knees to our left. The baby has rounded cheeks and his belly and legs are pudgy. His hands and arms stretch up to the woman and his head is tilted dramatically back to look up at her. One foot, farther from us, kicks out and the other knee is bent. The woman and baby are on a grassy area supported and framed by concrete-gray blocks, over an arched doorway below. The stone blocks also enclose an area housing a donkey and ox to our left. There is a thatched roof above and a landscape with rolling hills and a river beyond.
Sandro Botticelli, The Virgin Adoring the Child, 1480/1490, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.2.4

The Virgin Adoring the Child

Sandro Botticelli · 1480/1490 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.2.4

About three dozen people gather in a grassy field to either side of a crumbling structure to kneel and pray before a woman and baby in the center of this horizontal painting. The woman, Mary, and baby, Jesus, have smooth, pale skin while the others have light or tanned skin. The structure has sand-colored stone pillars, a wooden triangular, pitched roof, and a straw floor. Mary, who has an elongated torso, sits facing us with her knees apart. She wears an azure-blue robe over a rose-pink dress. A shell-pink veil covers her head and body. Jesus sits on her left knee, his pudgy body angled to our left. He is nude except for a transparent cloth wrapped over one shoulder and the opposite hip. Mary’s left hand braces his torso. On Mary’s right, our left, Joseph, an older man, stands facing us. He clasps his hands at his chest and leans on a long stick. He has wrinkled skin, long, gray curly hair, and a full beard. Both Mary and Joseph tilt their heads to their right, our left, as they look down at Jesus. Joseph wears a golden yellow robe over a blue tunic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have faint gold halos. Behind them, a brown cow and gray donkey rest on the straw. People closest to Mary and Jesus kneel and bow their heads while the people to the left and right sides mostly stand. Three men kneeling closest to Mary and Jesus offer gifts, including a bronze vessel and a gold jar. One man has long dark brown hair and a beard, and wears a gold crown. Another man is bald with long gray hair and beard, while the third is cleanshaven with shoulder-length brown hair. These men wear robes in powder blue, carnation pink, or celery green with delicate silver and gold embelishments. Others in the crowd range in age from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. They wear robes and tunics in shades of raspberry pink, butterscotch yellow, lapis blue, plum purple, or forest green. Several horses, their coats white or cinnamon brown, stand among the crowd, a few with riders. To our right, one horse rears its head and two others stand facing each other. Beyond the crowd, grassy green meadows and hills dotted with trees lead back to the horizon. A pale blue sky fills the top third of the composition.
Sandro Botticelli, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1478/1482, tempera and oil on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.22

The Adoration of the Magi

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1478/1482 · tempera and oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.22

Shown from the chest up, a man with pale, yellow-tinged skin is angled to our right with downcast eyes in this vertical portrait painting. He is cleanshaven with chin-length black hair. There is a deep vertical crease in the center of his forehead between dark brows. His eyes are hazel brown, and he has a long, hooked nose over slightly parted, pale pink lips. He wears a high-necked, red tunic with deep pleats down his chest. The arm closer to us has a fawn-brown sleeve. He is shown behind a narrow ledge where a brown, dove-sized bird with an ivory-white belly sits on a twig in the lower left corner. A window opening behind the man has two wooden shutters. The shutter to the right is closed, and the one to the left is pushed open so a sliver of pale sky is visible.
Sandro Botticelli, Giuliano de' Medici, c. 1478/1480, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.56

Giuliano de' Medici

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1478/1480 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.56

A young, pale-skinned woman with reddish-blond hair sits with a nearly nude, chubby toddler standing in her lap in this vertical painting. She looks down at him, her body and face angled to our left. Thin lines creating a gold halo fan out from the back of her head. An ivory-white scarf wraps around her head and trails down the back of her neck where it is tucked into a dark, teal-blue cloak covering her shoulders and draping across her lap. Under the robe, she wears a loose, cherry-red gown with vertical pleats over her chest. The baby, also with pale skin, reddish blond hair, and a delicate gold halo, looks up at her face with light brown eyes. He stands on the woman’s right thigh, to our left. One of the woman's hands wraps around his body and supports his legs, while she props up his chest with her other. A length of pale gray fabric wraps over one shoulder and around his stomach. The two are situated in front of a column and pillar supporting a horizontal lintel overhead. The view beyond is of a blue sky over a golden field with dark green conical cypress trees in the distance.
Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child, c. 1470, tempera on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.21

Madonna and Child

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1470 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.21

Shown from about the knees up, a woman, baby, and two angels crowd together in a narrow interior space pierced by three window openings. The people all have pale, peachy skin, blond hair, and translucent gold halos, and together they fill most of the space of this vertical painting. To our left, the woman perches on a pillow on a wooden chair as she holds the baby. The scrolling arm of the chair dips down to the seat in the lower left corner of the painting, and the black, scarlet-red, and gold pillow has a silver tassel dangling from the upper corner. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she turns her head in profile to gaze down past the child with heavy-lidded eyes. Her forest-green cloak is lined with dark material where it turns back down the front. Short, cape-like drapery flutters across her shoulders and is decorated with gold bands along the hem. The cloak is held closed by a gold disk just below the neckline of the red gown underneath, which is belted with a thin gold band above the waist. Her hair is pulled back from her high forehead and is covered by a sheer white veil that frames her face and falls in folds to her shoulders. She steadies the plump baby so he is propped upright on her lap, facing her, with his feet resting on her belly. The baby reaches out to her with his right hand resting on her left shoulder, farther from us, while he turns to look up over his other shoulder, above us. A dove-gray cloth with rose-pink and white stripes is wrapped around his waist and drapes over his legs. To our right, the two angels stand with their bodies facing the child they help support. The angel closer to us turns back to look at or past us with brown eyes. That angel’s robe is rose red with a brighter, scarlet-red collar. The robe falls back to the elbow on the arm closer to us to reveal a cream-colored sleeve patterned with leaf-like strokes of pine green and earth brown. That hand is raised to delicately hold the hem of the baby’s wrap. The one wing we can see is brown and cranberry red, and is cut off by the right edge of the painting. The second angel stands at the back of the little group and looks up and off to our right with silver-gray eyes. That angel wears a pale lavender-gray robe and one hand supports the baby’s bottom. A small, scarlet-red disk is set into the angel’s hair over the forehead. A spray of white lilies angles from between the two angels along the right edge of the panel. The room the group occupies has light gray walls, some tinged with shell pink, and a sapphire-blue ceiling bordered with dark brown wood. A matching sapphire-blue, scalloped half-moon shape is set into the back wall. A garland of chestnut-brown leaves hangs from gold fittings to span the room near the ceiling. Portions of a stone building and watery blue sky are visible through the windows to either side and at the back of the room.
Sandro Botticelli, Madonna and Child with Angels, 1465/1470, oil and tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.47

Madonna and Child with Angels

Sandro Botticelli · 1465/1470 · oil and tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1943.4.47

Bibliography

1908

  • Horne, Herbert. Alessandro Filipepi, Commonly Called Sandro Botticelli. London, 1908. (Italian ed. by C. Canova, Firenze, 1986; Appendix III by C. Canova, London, 1987)

1921

  • Bode, Wilhelm. Sandro Botticelli. Berlin, 1921.

1925

  • Yashiro, Yukio. Sandro Botticelli. 3 vols. London and Boston, 1925.

1938

  • Mesnil, Jacques. Botticelli. Paris, 1938.

1958

  • Salvini, Roberti. Tutta la pittura del Botticelli. 2 vols. Milan, 1958.

1978

  • Lightbown, Ronald. Sandro Botticelli. 2 vols. London, 1978.

1986

  • Horne, Herbert P. Alessandro Filipepi, Commonly Called Sandro Botticelli. Ed. and trans. Caterina Caneva. 3 vols. Florence, 1986-1987.

1989

  • Pons, Nicoletta. Botticelli. Milan, 1989.

1990

  • Canova, Caterina. Botticelli. Catalogo completo. Florence, 1990.

2000

  • Sandro Botticelli. Dipinti e disegni de le Divina Commediea. Exh. cat. Scuderi Papali, Rome. Milan, 2000.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 145-146.